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Friday, June 27, 2014

100th--er, 101st post! It's nautical time again

I can't believe I stuck with this blogging thing long enough to have 100 posts. That's so unlike me. It's summer again, and the weather is nice, people are swimming, whatever, etc. It is now socially acceptable for non sailors such as myself to wear anchors and boat themed crap. It is nautical time again.
This post is a two for one! First, I'm showing you this dress:

Another from the $0.50 rack at Outfitters. I wasn't feeling a refashion at the time, (months ago) so I put it on the dress form to sell on Etsy. I took a few pictures and said, "ugh, no."

Look at those sleeves. And look at how the front of the bodice appears to be independent from the rest of the dress. What's that for? I couldn't sell that to polygamist cult member.

I mean no disrespect to their plights...just their clothes.

Left crumpled in a pile of other things I wasn't sure about, it suddenly seemed appealing to me as the temperatures rose. It was long and loose for hiding legs, but lightweight for keeping cool. Perhaps I could un-modest it?

My dress is nothing like this. Not even close. I don't even know why...anyway, I digress. After taking all that material off. I pinned and sewed the raw edges. I guess I didn't photograph that part. I actually had to do it a couple times, forgetting how terribly petite I can be.

Next, I had to take in the sides of the top. See how much? That's a big-ass dress. I usually pin it down the side like and then try it on, before marking that line and then repinning and finally sewing. It's amazing that I ever finish anything. Everything takes so long.

Do you see the problem that I'm seeing? Look at those side flaps, all sticking out like that. I will sew them down. Also, what's missing? My plan was to un-modest this dress, yet my cleavage is no where to be seen. As I sewed down the sides, I realized how very easy it was. "What is this? Is this chambray?" I asked myself, thinking that very question would be a great silly title for this post. My mom said it was "oxford" or something. Where was I? Oh, I probably should've let it be, but my inspiration dress had a v neck. So, I unbuttoned and folded under.
I figured my next step would be to add straps. I wanted something navy blue and stretchy.

Yes! It's a big, thick shoelace or something. It's some kind of rope. That came in one of the free bags of sewing supplies that a seamstress gifted me. I've got a lot of that.

I sewed it in place in back and then tried it on to determine where they should be attached in front. Once that boring shit was out of the way, I needed some sort of signifier to show everyone that this isn't a regular pale blue dress. No sir, this is a nautical dress. What symbol should I use?

Anchors away, jerks! (I'm sorry. No one's a jerk.) As you see, I've got several appliques from my precious stash to choose from. Spoiler alert: I went with the gold one. After ironing it on, the packaging recommended sewing it in place for more permanent hold. I actually used $2 from my Jo-ann gift card to buy gold thread. Haven't used it yet. Oh, I should mention that I have 6 silver anchor buttons that I scavenged from a $0.50 skirt that I bought just for that purpose. They were bigger than the button holes. Enlarge button holes? Back in the stash you go, little anchors!
Just when I think I'm done, I try it on again. The length is weird. I like it just below the knee, but nowhere near the ankle! I groaned at the thought of having to measure, pin, iron and sew the whole hem.

But seriously, folks; this type of material is just so easy to work with. I pretty much just snapped my fingers and it was done. Now, I just need a suh-weeet belt to really finish this.

Oops, bad picture quality. I've got so many belts! Pardon my boast, but look at the selection of navy blue belts I'm choosing from. I'm not even showing off the red and white striped with vinyl anchor in the middle. May I draw your attention those these?

Wow, it's a ship's wheel buckle! And that belt has adorable white and yellow anchors!
Just when I think I can't get any lamer...I take time out of my blog post to brag about my thrift store belt collection. Most of them didn't work, as the waistline was kinda high (how I do) for this dress. Without any further ado...

The wind blown look! Aiming a fan at your face may cause squinting.

What can I say...photo effects are fun to use. How do we feel about the dress? Not perfect. I probably shouldn't have messed with the top there. Also, there's an unfortunate button gap. Happens every time.

Oh my god, is this post still going? I said it was going to be a two for one, but I think it's gonna be a two-part deal. It's too long.